Page 34 of His Wicked Embrace
She nodded. “The women would dress in their brightest clothes and go out to the gardens before sunrise to pluck the petals from the roses. The men would have copper tubs with hot water prepared. My mother took me every year to watch. I can still remember seeing the petals fall like colored raindrops into the vast tubs and the singing of the women as they welcomed thedawn.”
Lawrence took in the image her words created. He could picture Zehra as a beautiful dark-haired child, wearing a colorful gown, holding her mother’s hand and watching the petals fall around her. The morning light would have come over the horizon, illuminating her bright-blue eyes. Yes, he would have given anything to see that.Anything.
“Persians and roses have a long history. We are besotted with them.” She smiled impishly. “My mother said my father seduced her withroses.”
“Oh?” Lawrence listened eagerly. As she spoke of her home, her face transformed, becoming even more beautiful, to the point where the sight filled his heart to bursting. She licked the tips of her fingers as she finished herdinner.
“Roses are considered to be beautiful and perfect. They are the object of longing and adoration of the nightingale, who represents a lover and sings his devotion to the rose in much of our poetry. The poet Omar Khayyám was a favorite of my father’s. I remember a bit of his work.” She paused as though thinking before she beganagain:
I sometimes thinkthat never blows sored
The roses as where some buried Caesarbled;
That every hyacinth the gardenwears
Dropt in its lap from some once lovelyhead.
For a second neitherof them moved, the weight of the words caught between them in an invisible web, and then Zehra continued tospeak.
“My father crept into my mother’s chamber one night and had his servants fill her bath with rose petals, and there he spoke to her of love androses.”
“Your father sounds like an intelligent and romantic man,” Lawrencesaid.
“He was,” she agreed. Fresh sorrow now painted her face with a haunting loveliness. He hadn’t wanted to remind her of her loss, so he scrambled to ask her somethingelse.
“Did you have a beau, back inPersia?”
She looked puzzled. “Bow?” She gestured as if tying her hair withone.
“No,beau. You know, a man who comes to court you? Someone who wanted to marryyou?”
“Oh, I see. There were many men who wished to court me, but I was not interested. My mother had shown me the freedoms of a Western woman, and I had no desire to marry a traditional suitor. It was my mother’s hope that I would travel to England in a year for studies.” She sipped her wine, and with a coy grin she continued. “I was looking forward to coming here and possibly finding my own wild Englishlord.”
Lawrence laughed. “And here I am, ready to fill your everydesire.”
She raised one elegant dark brow. “Everydesire?”
“Yes, everyone.”
She set her wine glass down on the table and stood, holding her hand out tohim.
“Then take me to bed. I wish to see the starsagain.”
He would not deny her. They would not think of what the future held. For tonight there was only the beauty that blossomed between them as they came together in each other’s arms oncemore.
Chapter Eleven
Zehra slept for much of the coach ride back the following morning. Lawrence was to blame. He had spent all night making love to her. She had collapsed near dawn from sheer exhaustion. It was true, onecouldhave too much of a good thing. She nuzzled his shoulder as the coach rolled to astop.
“Are you awake?” His tender voice made her want to sigh and burrow deeper into hisarms.
“If I say no, can you have the coachman take us back to Richmond?” she askeddrowsily.
Lawrence’s laugh warmed her to her toes. “Don’t tempt me, darling. I’d like that more than you, I’d wager. Why don’t I take you straight to bed and let you rest?” He brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek, and shesmiled.
“That sounds nice, as long as you join me. No more separaterooms.”
“No more separate rooms,” he agreed. For a moment they simply stared into one another’s eyes, their faces close enough for a kiss. In that moment Zehra felt that she could have wanted nothing else in life, except to be withhim.
